Update

Diana is still doing well, although progress when fighting a serious infection like this is always slow.



Yesterday her white blood cell count was a little elevated, so her surgeon took her in to the operating room to check on the incision on her side and make sure it was healing as well as they had thought - he also ordered a CAT scan of her abdomen, to check on the progress of the ulcer repair. Everything looked very good, the ulcer repair and incision on her stomach healing very well and the incision on her side healing well - he found no further infection or problems. However, he did remove her central line and place another central line in another location, as he thought that the first one might be the source of a small infection.

Otherwise she did very well, with her blood pressure remaining stable, which is one of the things her doctors and nurses are concentrating on most.



She is still sedated and on the ventilator. However, all of her vital signs are very good and her lungs look clear and good. Her surgeon wants to give her a day of complete rest today, as having those procedures and being under anesthesia yesterday was a lot of stress on her body, though she did very well.



Right now, I'm being told that the next step is to put a new dressing in place on the incision on her side called a wound vac. This is a dressing which only requires changing every three days and causes less pain when its in place. However, the wound needs to be extremely healthy to tolerate this, so her surgeon wants to wait a day or so, to make sure that the wound continues to progress as well as it has been. He is very cautious, which I appreciate so much, as forging ahead too fast and then suffering a set back would be extremely discouraging for Mom, her doctors and everyone.



Several people have told me that revising my expectations to small, steady improvements is the way to go, and I agree - and she is making small, steady improvements everyday.



Mom's office manager tells me that she has collected all of the many cards and letters friends and patients have sent and will deliver them when Mom is awake. We will make sure to display them in her room, so she can see them all.

The outpouring of love and concern is so wonderful and I tell Mom every day that she has so many people sending her positive energy and love and praying for her, we can't even count them all. I know that she's touched and helped so many people in her life, and will continue to - all of your wonderful responses are just evidence of this. Thank you.



Again, I apologize for not being able to return emails and phone calls as I would like to. The days seem very short and extremely long at the same time - the minutes pass slowly in Mom's hospital room as there is little I can do for her right now except talk to her and hold her hand, but then it will suddenly be 9:00 at night and I won't remember where the time went. I have what Mom and I took to calling "hospital brain" when my Dad was so ill for so long - it means that you can remember every detail of what happened to the person being treated, but often not what day it is, or what you've told someone else just an hour before.

Anyway, I want you all to know that I'm not failing to respond because I don't care or appreciate your love and concern for Mom - I'm just existing day by day right now, and I can never predict what I'm going to be able to accomplish, as all my energy is going toward Mom, and often when I come home, I have very little left for anything else. Thank goodness I have wonderful support around me, so the things that I might not be able to manage are being taken care of. I guess we all just need to hang in there for right now, and concentrate on Mom's health and healing.